On that note, there's not much variety
here, just the Toecutter
in packs of one or two, and rarely a
Gorchimera.
The Toecutter is weak against Flame
and Wind, while the Gorchimera has
no weakness but can be easily neutralized by its vulnerabilities
to 'slow', 'sleep', and 'stop'. Gau should Rage Magna Roaders
(the brown type, found near the botton of the Rage list) for
Level 4 Flare, since both enemies are level 36, or Sprinter or
Marchosias (Harpiai) for Aeroga against Toecutters.

A group of thieves makes camp in here.
They have some potentially interesting information.

この前、３人で獣ケ原へいったら
獣のようなかっこうをした少年に
あったぜ。

When three of us went to the
Beast Plain earlier, we met a
boy that looked like a beast.

We 3 recently went hunting on the Veldt. We saw some weird kid there dressed all in hides...

なぜか、４人でいくと
あえないんだよな、これが。

For some reason, we can't find him
when all four of us go together, see.

For some reason he never came near when all 4 of us were together.

その少年を仲間にするために
おいらはいつも、ここでるすばん。
ふん、どうせおいらは、のけものさ。

I always stay behind here so they
can get that boy to hang with them.
Hmph, I'm always the outcast anyway.

Reduce the number of people in your party if you want him to approach you.

In the forest north of the Beast Plains
live some hugeass dinosaurs.
They're crazy strong and there's no way
mere human strength could beat them.
...but if you did beat them, you could
brag to everyone, that's for sure.

In a forest north of the Veldt dwells a frightful dragon.
I suppose no human could ever defeat it...but oh, how free we would be if someone could...

恐竜 (kyouryuu),
Japanese for "dinosaur", literally means
"fearsome dragon", so the mistranslation is
understandable to some extent, but it's particularly unfortunate due
to the Eight Dragons being a Thing of Some Importance. And also
consider that "dinosaur" itself literally means "fearsome
lizard", so yeah. Though that still doesn't explain where the last
sentence came from.

There's a Fury Ring for Umaro nearby that
boosts his strength, adds some more elemental defenses, and
lets him use his allies as weapons, somehow without hurting them
in the process. Search around in some unseen passages to find...
a chest with a monster inside.

As the name suggests,
Death Penalty loves
to use instant death attacks, but ironically has no protection
against them, or petrification.
Use Break for a quick win, and
the Atomic Ray spam that comes if the battle drags on will never
become a problem. That's a very good thing, considering
that Death Penalty has the highest magic power (55) of any enemy
in the game. Sketching will yield its otherwise unused special attack,
Dead End, killing it just as dead and making Sketch actually useful
for a change. Stealing isn't worth the Potion (common) or High Potion
(rare) that it nets, but Death Penalty will always drop the Tiger Fangs,
Mash's best general-use weapon.

Thanks to a semi-infamous mixup, this
battle uses the incorrect monster formation. This has two effects
worthy of note. The immediate one is that you won't earn an
LP for winning. The more important one is that this formation
cannot appear on the Beast Plain, so you'll never get the Rage
for Death Penalty even though it exists, and you can't get
potentially unlimited Tiger Fangs by fighting it repeatedly.
The Rage is nothing special, though, and you can always steal
more Tiger Fangs from Grand Behemoths in the final dungeon
if you want, so it's not a total loss.

Also, since I somehow overlooked
this for the longest time, I'll point out that the NA version name,
Allo Ver, is just "all over" with the space moved.
It always made me think of "aloe vera" instead,
though, and that just doesn't make any sense.

Find the Ichigeki Blade further in, then
see Interceptor standing guard over a familiar wounded figure.
If Shadow survived the Mystic Continent, then he's the one
here, otherwise Relm is here instead. Use the save point, then
continue on for a closer look.

『ひどいケガだ…

"Such awful wounds..."

Look at those wounds...

Unfortunately, a large monster takes
advantage of the distraction to attack. Honestly, they should have
seen that coming. King Behemoth
mostly attacks with Blizzara,
Blizzaga, and
Holy, with Meteor (enemy
spell) thrown into the mix at lower health. Meteor is also used as
a counter to Holy or
Flare, with a glitch causing the
next attack after that to provoke a second Meteor
counter, so don't cast those spells.
Its weaknesses are Flame and
Poison, and it absorbs
Ice.

There are some interesting odds and
ends in the combat script. When afflicted with 'kappa' status, it
uses doubled-up (full-power and auto-critical) normal attacks for
three rounds, then casts Kappa
to cure itself, unless also affected with 'reflect' at that time.
Combine 'kappa' on the monster with invisibility on the party
to avoid damage, and you're set, especially if you also
take advantage of its vulnerabilities to 'slow' and 'stop'.

King Behemoth doesn't like efforts
to use 'reflect' status, and will attack with Devilish Claws
to remove it.

リフレクの効果がきえた

Reflect's effect faded.

Effect of "Rflect" vanished

It won't use that more often than once
every three or four turns, but that still means less magic flying
at you. It's also incapable of removing 'reflect' from a Reflect
Ring, which could prove useful.

Eventually, King Behemoth will fall, but the
battle isn't over yet.

後ろに敵の気配！

There's an enemy behind us!

Enemy's coming from behind!

More literally,
気配 (kehai) is generally used as
a (possibly vague) feeling that someone or something is there, or
signs of such presence, sometimes in a sixth sense sort of way.
In a situation like this, it could be noises or smells coming from
the monster that tip them off to its presence.

もう一体、モンスターが現われた！

Another monster appeared!

Another monster appeared!

A second
King Behemoth comes up
from behind, this one brown where the first was gray. It's also
undead and much more of a physical fighter, and is weak
against Flame and
Holy, but absorbs
Poison. Note the shared
weakness if fighting with a Rage. However, this one also has
a glaring vulnerability to insteat death attacks, at least the ones
that work against undead monsters. Use something like
Dejon or the Air Anchor
(or just revive it) to end this quickly.

Otherwise, look out for lots of physical
attacks, plus some Death,
Meteor, and the 'sleep'-inducing Sleeping Gas attack. If someone
falls asleep, King Behemoth will follow up on its next turn with a
series of four attacks in one turn.

４連打！！

Four-hit combo!!

4 attacks!!

Steal a Murasame (rare) from the gray one.
The brown one has nothing to steal, but will drop a Behemoth Suit.
The gray one will also drop an item, but it's glitched and will
have different possibilities depending on which version of the
game you're playing.

The game data indicates that both of them
drop a Behemoth Suit, which would give you two, except for the
glitch. Basically, the game switches the enemies by switching
formations, and has the two monsters in different slots so that you'll
get drops from both. The problem is that when it goes to find the
items for the gray one, that slot is blank in the current formation,
but the game does the lookup anyway using the code for blank
instead of an actual monster ID, so it gets data from a meaningless
(but at least nonrandom) memory location instead of from the
correct monster data. The NA SNES versions end up using a
Thunder Blade (ThunderBlade) as the common drop and a
Jewel Ring as the rare drop. The Japanese SFC version instead
gets a Valiant Knife (which was supposed to be unique) as the
common drop and a Shinobi Garb as the rare drop. This bug is
reportedly fixed in the Playstation and GBA versions.

Also, if you abuse Vanish/Dejon or
something similar to kill the gray one in a way that breaks the
combat script, the brown one will never appear, which means
it won't appear on the Beast Plain, you can't get its Rage, and
your source of unlimited Behemoth Suits is gone. However,
since this avoids changing the formation, you will at least get
the intended Behemoth Suit drop in this case. Funny how one
glitch can circumvent another.

『ここで手当てはムリだな。
……、しかたがない。
飛空艇でサマサの村まで運ぼう。

"We can't treat these wounds here.
...there's not much choice. Let's use the
airship as transport to Thamasa Village."

We can't do anything for her here.
Let's take her back to Thamasa using the airship.

And so the party takes Shadow or Relm
elsewhere to recover.

Did Shadow have a run-in with Rule 63?
No, this is just one of the better-known translation gaffes, thanks
in part to how well Japanese (and how poorly English)
avoids pronouns where they aren't really necessary. I hear
that the GBA remake "fixes" this by replacing
"her" with "him" and thus implying that
Relm is male if she's here. While she is sort of a tomboy, and
most players are likely to save Shadow anyway, that doesn't
really work either.

サマサの村
Village of Thamasa
THAMASA

Congratulations, Shadow or Relm is now
safe from the big bad behemoth and in bed recovering. It's not
a peaceful rest, though. Each has a dream of the past...

『うなされているな…

"Must be a nightmare..."

You were having a nightmare...

Note that this line is in present (not
past) progressive tense, is said before we see the dream
(not after the character wakes), and is made as an undirected
remark (not spoken to the character). "You" and
"were having" are both wrong here.

If Shadow, the setting appears to be
Thamasa. Clyde, as seen in Shadow's other dreams,
is leaving the village. A dog rushes up to him.

俺をつれもどしに……
だが、戻るわけにはいかん…
おまえは、娘といっしょに
平和な世界で生きるがいい

Come to bring me back...?
But I can't go back...
You should live with the girl,
in a peaceful world.

You came to fetch me...
But I won't be coming back...
I want you, and the girl,
to live in a peaceful world...

"The girl" can also
translate as "my daughter" here.

He runs the rest of the way.
The dog hesitates, then follows after a last look back.

If Relm, the setting is in her house in Thamasa.
Stragos hops around and waves his arms, apparently trying to snap
her out of a funk, but she actively ignores him. The dog also present
gets more of a reaction, though.

パパは……？
パパはどこ行ったの？
もう、帰ってこないの？

Daddy...?
Where did daddy go?
Won't he ever come back?

Papa...?
Where'd he go?
Is he ever coming back?

Stragos looks down, but doesn't answer.
The dog gives one last look back, then runs out of the house.

Is it just me, or are those the same event
from different viewpoints?

Either way, Interceptor stays by the bed after
the dream ends. The others decide to leave.

『ここで、しばらく休ませよう。

"We'll let them rest here for a while."

Let's rest here for a moment.

Relm remains unconscious a bit longer.

「………

: .........

......

Come back after a bit for a little more
of a response if she's the one injured. Shadow, however,
recovers consciousness immediately.

『だいじょうぶか？

"Are you okay?"

Are you okay?

If Shadow.

{ｼｬﾄﾞｳ}「心配するな。
これしきのキズ。
それに、こいつが見はっててくれる
から安心だ。

{Shadow}: Don't worry.
These wounds are nothing.
Besides, he's standing guard,
so I can rest easy.

{SHADOW}: No need to worry. It's just a scratch.
Also, he's gonna stand guard,
so you just relax.

Either way, Interceptor steps forward and
barks a few times as if to give reassurance. Head out and come
back later, and the patient may have recovered and left.

Shadow is straightforward. Just leave and
re-enter the village.

あの、黒い服を着た男の人ですが
コロシアムに行く、と言って
出ていってしまいました。

That man in the black clothes
left, saying he was going to the
coliseum.

If you're looking for the man dressed all in black, he left for the colosseum.

Interceptor has also left.

Relm is more complicated. Apparently,
you need to come and go a few times, making sure to walk
over one of several unmarked spots along the way. Just stay
on the path by the main entrance to the village and things
should work out.

ある日、ジドール貴族の使いと
なのる人がきて、あの女の子を
つれていってしまいました。

Someone claiming to be a messenger
for a Jidoor aristocrat came one day
and took that girl with him.

One day, a man working for an aristocrat in Jidoor came and took that young woman back with him!

Also, Interceptor will be wandering around
outside.

One more thing before leaving town.

エボシ岩が５０年ぶりにうかんだの。
世界大破壊の地震のせいかしら？
村の北にいけば、見られるわよ。

Eboshi Rock surfaced for the first time in fifty years.
Did the apocalyptic earthquakes cause it?
You can see it if you go north of the village.

For the first time in 50 years, Ebot's Rock is above water!
Head north of town if you want to see it.

If only Stragus were here to hear
about that...

竜の首コロシアム
Dragon's Head Coliseum
COLOSSEUM

2-12 "Johnny C Bad" plays here.
The Coliseum gets its own section
later on with related dialog and useful wagers to make.

For now, just worry about Shadow.
Someone in the bar here mentions a fighter
looking for the Ichigeki Blade found in the Beast Plain Cave,
and Shadow headed for the coliseum when he left Thamasa.
So, once he's rescued and recovered, head here and try
wagering the Ichigeki Blade. You'll face Shadow, who sadly has
no equipment on and can't even Throw anything. That should
make for an easy win, though the outcome is identical even if you
manage to draw or lose.

『どうしてこんなところに？
{ｼｬﾄﾞｳ}「俺に残されたのは
戦いだけの修羅の道…

"Why are you in a place like this?"
{Shadow}: The only thing left to me is
the path of bloodshed in combat...

What're you doing here?
{SHADOW}: The only thing I know how to do is fight...

『いっしょに行かないか？
{ｼｬﾄﾞｳ}「そうだな…

"Would you come with us?"
{Shadow}: I suppose...

Why not come with us?
{SHADOW}: Well...

{ｼｬﾄﾞｳ}「修羅の道…
きわめてみるか。

{Shadow}: The path of bloodshed...
might as well go all-out.

{SHADOW}: First I need to see how far I can get here...

Shadow joins, permanently this time,
with Interceptor helping protect him as long as the glitchy effects
of the Ripple enemy spell don't get to him.

I'm an Imperial soldier!
...or at least survived being one.
I gave some special information to
a bandana-wearing buddy of yours.
"Talk to the emperor twice."
It's a hint to where Emperor
Gastra hid a secret treasure.
I'm not sure what it means.

I'm an Imperial Trooper!
Probably, the last of 'em...
I have some valuable information for you!
Talk to the Emperor twice.
Use this when you've found the place where the Emperor hid a secret treasure.

Shadow's Dreams

In addition to the dream after his rescue,
Shadow can have four other dreams. These appear in order,
one at a time, with a random 50% chance, by resting in nearly any
bed at any point with him in the active party. This includes the brief times
that he may join the party back in the World of Balance, but seeing
any then is unlikely unless recruiting him in Kohlingen, as normal
beds are rarely available when he's required.

Anyway, the first dream starts with a black
screen, a man in a brown cape, and strange noises. No, the
game isn't glitching out. After a few seconds, with more strange
sounds, another man appears, this one with spiky hair and an
eyepatch. He approaches the first man, who steps back.

It seems he wasn't coherent enough
to quite catch the name of the village, or maybe she was hesistant
to say it clearly, but we know where he is, right?

And that's Shadow's backstory,
or at least all of it that the game reveals.

ジドールの町
Town of Jidoor
JIDOOR

3-10 "The Magic House" now
plays in town, a track that combines aristocratic with spooky. Once
Relm recovers after being saved from the Beast Plain Cave, or
immediately upon reaching the World of Ruin if Shadow was in the
cave instead, she ends up here, so let's try asking around.

北にあるのはアウザーの家だよ。
美術品のコレクターで
特に絵画には目がないんだ。

The house in the north is Auzer's.
He's a collector of artwork, and
is particularly fond of paintings.

The house to the north belongs to Owzer. He's a collector of fine paintings.

この前、ガストラ皇帝に会ったぜ。
……とは言っても「絵」だけどな。
アウザーさんの家にあるんだが
なかなかよくかけてるよ。

I met Emperor Gastra the other day.
...well, actually, just his portrait.
It's in Auzer-san's house,
and painted quite well.

I saw the Emperor recently!
A painting of him, that is...
It's in Owzer's house.

アウザーは有能な絵かきを見つけて
来ては、家で絵をかかせていたよ。

Auzer found a talented artist to
put to work painting in his house.

Owzer sought out a highly skilled artist to come and paint for him.

I think we know who that is. Head to the
mansion to find the lights off and the staircase to the art gallery
actively refusing entry. (Assuming Relm is here now. If she's still
in the cave, or was there and has not yet recovered, then the
lights will be on and nothing unusual will happen.)

来…るな……

Stay... away...

Stay...away...

Odd. Maybe this conveniently open book
will have some answers.

アウザーの日記が置いてある…

Auzer's journal was left here...

It's Owzer's diary...

久々に大きな買い物をした。
ふつうの絵よりもサイズが大きいので
１階にはかざれそうもない。
あとで置く場所を考えるとしようか。

I made my first big purchase in a long time.
It's a larger size than the usual paintings,
so I can't decorate the first floor with it.
I'll think about where to put it later.

Just spent an absolute fortune. It's my largest painting yet,
so I won't be able to put it with the others.
I'll decide later where to display it.

今日、ゾゾから画家がやってきた。
絵を見せてもらったが、まったく話に
ならない。時間のムダだった。

An artist from Zozo came today. I had him
show me his paintings, but they weren't
even worth talking about. A waste of time.

An artist came from Zozo today. He wanted me to see his work. What a waste of time.

階段のところのランプがこわれたので
道具屋で新しいのを買ってきた。
少し高かったが、スイッチひとつで
すぐ明るくなるので気持ちがいい。

The lamp by the stairs broke, so I went
to the item shop and bought a new one.
It was a bit expensive, but it lights up quite
nicely with just the flip of a switch.

Bought a new stairway lamp at the Item Shop. Expensive, but one flip of the switch and everything's bright and cheery.

コーリンゲンから画家を呼んできた。
しかし、私の目にかなうほどのウデでは
なかったようだ。

I called an artist from Kohlingen here.
He didn't seem to have skill enough
to satisfy my eye, though.

I invited over an artist from Kohlingen. About as talented as a bucket...

最近、体の調子がおかしい。
どうやら、あの絵をかかせてからだ。
そういえば最近、地下室の方から
変な音が聞こえるような気がする。

I've been feeling off recently. It seems to
be since I had that painting done. Which
reminds me, I feel like I've been hearing
odd noises from the basement lately.

Something's happening to me.
It started when I had that picture painted...
And I've started hearing odd noises coming from downstairs.

日記はここで終わっていた……

The journal ends at this point...

The diary ends here...

That sounds ominous, but regardless, a quick
check of the lamp turns the lights back on and makes the staircase
behave itself. There seems to be nothing but paintings here, but a
few are more than they appear. Let's start with the portrait of the
emperor.

ガストラ皇帝の絵だ…

Emperor Gastra's portrait...

Emperor Gestahl's portrait.

The artist mentioned selling it to Auzer, and
also talked about putting something in it. The soldier at the coliseum
spoke of talking to the emperor twice. It turns out that the portrait is
hiding a letter, found by examining it a second time.

「皇帝の手紙」 を手に入れた
手紙には次のようにかいてある。
秘宝は、山が星型にならぶ所に隠した。

Got the Emperor's Letter.
The following is written in the letter:
I hid the secret treasure where the
mountains align as a pentagram.

Received the
"Emperor's Letter."
The letter reads as follows:
The treasure is hidden where the mountains form a star...

Sounds like something worth
investigating later on. But let's look at some other
paintings.

きれいな花の絵だ。

A picture of pretty flowers.

A still-life of flowers.

まるで生きてるようだ…

They almost seem alive...

They almost look alive...

That's nice, but... wait, how are they attacking?
Bring lots of MEvd and kill them with fire. Quickly, or face the horror
of Temptation.

Temptation causes 'charmed' status,
which resembles 'confused', but with a few important differences.
There's no way to have immunity to it, there's no way to cure it,
and affected characters (monsters too) appear normal, other
than acting suicidally. The Rage for these gets Temptation,
too, making Roflesh Meadow
the single most abusable one in the game. Fight and kill them
before finishing the area, or the battle won't be available.

Apparently so. Fortunately, the pair of
Misty
isn't nearly as dangerous as the trio of flowers, and
winning reveals a doorway. Enter to find a small but strange
dungeon. Most enemies, including the two above, have some
kind of animal suit to steal (for Stragus and Relm).

Be especially wary of the
Nation Rhythm,
which throws pointy objects for massive damage
every turn. Hit them with 'confuse', 'sleep', or 'stop' (or 'berserk'
if you have nothing more debilitating) to prevent this. Alternately,
just give everyone 'transparent' status and try to avoid leaving
a Mine Ball or
Coeurl Cat alone at any time,
since they're the only things in random encounters here that
have magic-based attacks, and only use those when no other
monsters are alive.

Passing directly in front of the painting
of a chair will suck the party in for a forced battle, but only
the first time.

The only interesting chest contents
in the area are a Moogle Suit (through the left door) and a
Ring of the Dead (in an obvious passage behind one wall).
The suit makes Stragus or Relm appear as a Moogle in
combat as an interesting side effect, while the ring has the
unusual effect of making its wearer effectively
undead.

Navigate past the door maze (pick left)
and the monster-trapped floating chests, and fight
Naracamicie, fairly
unremarkable except for its Death Sentence counterattack,
in yet another haunted painting to open the way onward.

Interesting how the painting of Maria
keeps changing which way she's facing.

Save if desired, then take the righthand door
to finally find Auzer (the left door just dumps you out a few rooms
earlier). Relm is here too, working on a painting.

Auzer: I b-beg of you...
Save that painting...
"The painting...!?"
Auzer: There's...
a monster possessing my
precious goddess painting...
"A monster!?"
Auzer: ...that's right.
And on top of that it's hiding inside
the painting and rarely shows itself...

OWZER: P...please...
Help that painting!!
The painting!?
OWZER: It's...there's a monster hiding in my prized painting of a goddess...
A monster?!
OWZER: Yes...
And now it's nearly impossible to get it to show itself...

{Relm}: Eep!
Auzer: {Relm}!
You can't attack the goddess painting.
That would be outrageous!

{RELM}: Ahhhhh!!
OWZER: {RELM}!
We can't attack this masterpiece! It would be inexcusable!

ﾁｬﾀﾞﾙﾇｰｸ「グフフフ……
またジャマが入ったか……
こいつは久しぶりにいい絵だわい…
誰にもジャマはさせんぞ！！

Chadarnook: Ghu fu fu...
Here comes another hindrance...
I haven't had such a fine painting in ages...
I won't let anyone get in my way!!

CHADARNOOK: G'fu, fu, fu...
Who're these numbskulls?
No one...NO ONE...is going to remove me from this fine new painting!!

Battle ensues. You start off facing the
painting itself rather than the
spirit possessing it.

In the NA release, she's one of several
censored enemies, given a thicker and less skillfully drawn extra
layer of mist. Even the original showed less than an average
bikini, though, so I'm not sure what the big deal was. Apparently,
the Playstation port lacks the added mist but it's back again
in the GBA port.

あくりょう
この絵の女は、わしがいただいた……
そう簡単には返さないぜ……

Evil Spirit:
I have claimed the woman in this picture...
I won't give her back so easily...

DEMON:
The girl in the picture is mine!
You can't have her!

As Auzer said, rule #1 of this battle is Do
Not Attack The Painting. It does no good (she just comes back
to life even if her HP are depleted), and will often provoke
a counterattack, which may be the unique Poltergeist attack.
Poltergeist sets a special status effect on all characters that
resembles 'slip', but seems to inflict damage significantly more
often (or maybe repeated uses just stack), is completely
unpreventable and incurable, and removes 'regenerate' status
even if granted by an accessory. It also has a special casting
message:

死ぬまで体力がへり続けるぞ

Your health will keep dropping until you die.

Casts away your energy 'till......

Instead of attacking, wait, and the
evil spirit will switch in. Bring protection against
Thunder to better survive its
attacks, and also against Ice or
Water for Flash Rain later into the
battle. Attack with Flame or
Holy for best results. The monster
and goddess will keep switching places with little warning,
so try to make sure not to input an attack unless it's certain
to hit the right target. This should go without saying, but avoid
anything that makes a character uncontrollable (Umaro, Rage,
or Dance) or has a significant delay before striking (Jump or
Quetzal's Sonic Dive).

More concretely, the demon hides and
exposes the goddess every four times it's attacked (not reset
if the goddess appears due to the timer), or whenever the
elapsed time since the start of combat reaches a multiple of
40 seconds (unfortunately, this does not mean 40 seconds since
it most recently appeared, and it's not unusual for it to show itself
and then immediately hide again because of the timer). The
demon comes out of hiding after the goddess takes a certain
number of turns. At the beginning of combat or after the demon
hides in response to attacks, the goddess gets one turn, which
has a 33% chance of being Temptation—fortunately,
'charmed' status goes away when the demon comes back
out—but will more often just be a normal attack. If the
demon hid because of the timer, the goddess instead gets
three turns. The first one is again Temptation (33%) or a normal
attack (67%), the second may be a normal attack or Kiss of
Death (physical, sets 'death sentence') or Lullaby (attempts
to set 'sleep' on all characters), and the third may be Kiss of
Death (33%) or just a normal attack (67%). Bring Ribbons and
Safety Bits if you want.

The demon's actions mix
normal attacks with Thundara
and Thundaga.
After taking 14,640 damage, it changes patterns, cutting back
on normal attacks and abandoning
Thundara
in favor of using Flash Rain almost half the time. It may
counter with Thundara
during either attack pattern.

You can also kill Chadarnook by
draining its magic points, but with 7,600 MP compared to only
30,000 HP, it's not worth the bother. A more interesting unorthodox
strategy combines Reflect Rings with Edgar's Weakmaker
to give it a weakness against it's own
Thunder spells, but Temptation
could still cause problems.

Nothing dropped and no items to steal,
so just try to kill it quickly and cleanly.

お、おのれ……
こんなはずでは……

Wh-why you...
This cannot be...

I...I'm...
This can't be......

The following unused line
might have been intended to appear if the painting
ran out of health before the spirit.

ｱｳｻﾞｰ「だめじゃ！だめじゃ！
わしの大事な女神の絵に
キズがついたらどうするんじゃ！？
魔物だけをねらうんじゃぞ！

Auzer: Don't! Don't!
What if you damage my
precious goddess painting!?
Aim only for the monster!

OWZER: No! Noooo!
You can't ruin this painting of my revered goddess!
Aim only for the monster!!

It's gone. That's better.
And the lights are back on now, too.

{ﾘﾙﾑ}「おーい！
魔物はくたばったから安心しろよ。

{Relm}: Hey!
The monster's dropped dead so chill.

{RELM}: Hey!
Relax! The monster croaked!

ｱｳｻﾞｰ「おかげで助かった…
なんせ、命より大事な絵じゃからの。
{ﾘﾙﾑ}「へーえ。
命よりも大事なんだ。

Auzer: Thanks to you, it's saved... the painting
is more precious than my life, after all.
{Relm}: Oh really.
More precious than your life.

OWZER: Thanks for saving the day! This picture's more precious to me than my own life!
{RELM}: Huh?!
What are you talking about?

"By the way... why was there
a monster in that painting...?"
Auzer: Looking at a stone I bought at
the auction house gave me a sudden
urge to have a painting of Lakshmi.
Since then I've had all sorts of artists
paint one, but none could satisfy me.
It was around that time that I heard
rumors of {Relm} in the town.
I brought her here at once and had
her paint Lakshmi for me.
...but when she was in the middle of
painting, the monster possessed it.
It must have been...
lured here by the stone's magic.

Now...what was a monster doing in that picture?!
OWZER: It all started when I bought a stone at the Auction House.
I took one look at it and suddenly felt I needed a portrait of Starlet.
I asked several artists, but none could muster enough skill.
It was then that I heard about {RELM}'s amazing ability.
I brought her here, and put her to work.
But while she was painting, that thing came along...
It must have been enticed here by that stone.

『その石はどこに…？
ｱｳｻﾞｰ「その石か？
そこの本だなにしまってあるが…

"Where is that stone...?"
Auzer: The stone? I've put it away
in the bookshelf over there...

Where is the stone...?
OWZER: The stone?
Over on that bookshelf.

The following unused line makes
me wonder what else you might have gotten here.

ｱｳｻﾞｰ「おいおい、そっちじゃない。
そいつは命の次に大事なもんだ。
だが、助けてもらった礼じゃ。
それもくれてやるわい。

Auzer: Hold on now, not that one.
That's nearly as important as my life.
But as thanks for having you help
me, I'll give you that as well.

OWZER: Hey, not that.
That's priceless!!
But...seeing as you saved my hide, I'll give it to you as well.

Relm refuses to let the others leave
without the stone.

{ﾘﾙﾑ}「ねーねー。
石は持ってかないの？石は。

{Relm}: Hey, hey!
The stone! Aren't you taking it?

{RELM}: The stone...!
Won't you take the stone?!

So go ahead and take it.

『これは魔石…
ｱｳｻﾞｰ「もうあんな目にあうのは
こりごりだ。タダでやるから
持っていってくれんか。

"This is magicite..."
Auzer: It's brought me more than enough
trouble already. I'll give it to you free of
charge, so would you take it away?

This is Magicite...
OWZER: Phew. I don't need any more bad luck. Just take it and go!

Auzer:
A mysterious power dwells within.
The only hope for saving
this rotting world... it lies
in this girl's paintings.
"We need {Relm}'s help to bring
the light back into this world."

OWZER:
What a tremendous gift!
This young lady's pictures just might help salvage this rotting world of ours!
We need to take {RELM} with us!
She might just be our only chance to restore the sunny days of our not-too-distant past!

Auzer: ...*cough*... *cough*...
{Relm}: Geezer!
Are you okay!?
Auzer: Will it really come back?
"...we don't know.
But... the world will definitely
go to ruin as things stand..."
Auzer: Ruin...
"There's no time left.
So, {Relm}..."

OWZER: Cough...hack...
{RELM}: Old man!
Are you all right?!
OWZER: You think things will ever be as they were?
...We don't know...
but if we don't try...
OWZER: We'll lose everything...
We haven't much time.
We need {RELM}'s help now...

ｱｳｻﾞｰ「もう一度だけ……
{リルム}をだかせてくれんか…

Auzer: Would you let me hug {Relm}...
just one more time...?

OWZER: Let me at least hug her
one last time...

ｱｳｻﾞｰ「…{リルム}や…
ゴホッ…
またここへ戻ってきてくれるか？
そして……また
わしのために絵をかいてくれるか？

Auzer: ...{Relm}...
*cough*...
Will you come back here again?
And... will you paint for me again?

OWZER: {RELM}...
Cough...Hackack...
Will you come back some day?
And paint me another of your masterpieces?

{ﾘﾙﾑ}「まかしといてよ。
ｱｳｻﾞｰ「よしよし……
いい子じゃ……

{Relm}: Leave it to me.
Auzer: Good, good...
Good girl...

{RELM}: I'll come back.
OWZER: Thank you...
Such a nice girl!

Maybe it seemed a bit too
pedophiliac...

Tower of the Cefca Fanatics

Stick Relm in the party and land the airship
next to the tower built on the Serpent's Way near Nikaea.

The (spoilerific thanks to showing the
World of Ruin to begin with) map provided with the game
documentation calls this the "Fanatics' Tower."
However, it has no in-game name, and the word
"fanatics" never once appears in the NA version
of the game, which calls them the "Cult of Kefka"
instead.

3-12 "Fanatics" plays at
and inside of the tower. The line of fanatics pacing around
the tower includes Stragus, but Relm will have none of that.

And so Stragus rejoins. I'll cover the
tower itself later,
after recruiting the final character and collecting more
equipment.

If you're not ready to tackle the tower
yet but take Mog up with Moruru's Charm to loot treasures,
avoid the room at the very top. Approaching the chest there
results in a boss battle on the roof that you'll want to be
well-prepared for. Contacting the dragon roaming one room
will also result in a boss fight.

Before we leave, one of the thieves here
has (expensive) information that may prove useful.

秘密のお宝ネタを教えてやろうか？
１０００００ギルでいいぜ？

Want me to give you a lead on secret
treasure? 100,000 gil will do the trick.

How generous of you!
Here's the info...
Beneath the Figaro Desert supposedly lies an
ancient castle. It's bound to be full of treasure...
Also, this is just what I heard, but...
apparently the old man living in the Narshe
weapon shop is looking for you guys...

Hooey!!!!
Right, here's the scoop:
Beneath the Desert of Figaro lies an ancient castle...
...loaded with treasure.
By the way, an old man who lives in the Weapon Shop in Narshe is looking for you...

The cultists never bother to fill in the
gap Stragus left in their line. It's also amusing to try talking to
them repeatedly. They won't respond, but will (very) briefly
stop moving if disturbed at the right moment. Especially with a
turbo controller, it's possible to foul them up quite a bit.